The Barto Club seems to be a powerful group, as it managed to reach the New World all the way from East Blue, which was generally regarded as the weakest of the four seas. Bartolomeo has a high bounty on his head, giving him the status of a super rookie, standing out from his generation.[7] The only other known member of the crew Gambia was able to gain a moderate bounty and was marked as a target among the participants of the Corrida Colosseum, although he was unable to stand up against a vice-admiral.

Despite their strength, the crew is very inexperienced at sailing, lacking a proper navigator and relying on useless advice from Gambia's grandmother through Den Den Mushi calls in order to handle obstacles at the sea. They are also prone to seasickness.

The Barto Club’s ship is called Going Luffy-senpai . It has dark crimson sails and various cannons on its sides. Two variations of the Jolly Roger can be seen, one in the main sail (in which the skull is white) and the other one in the crow’s nest flag (in which the skull is red).

Her figurehead is shaped like a Luffy as he appeared before the timeskip, with his arms stretched backward. It has a set of ornamental decorations resembling Chopper's antlers on each side (in the anime, the entire stern of the ship is modeled after Chopper's head), and a sheep head that resemble the one on the Going Merry and Mini Merry II in her center. Behind the figurehead there seems to be some trees like Nami's mikan trees on the Merry.

The crew's captain, Bartolomeo, was a famous rookie roughly one year after the Battle of Marineford, having started his journey from East Blue, and the crew eventually entered the New World.[9] Prior to this, as stated by Bartolomeo, the crew's members were all originally gangsters.[10]

As far as Orlumbus mentioned, they are a crew of 56 members.[11] They are all huge fans of the Straw Hat Pirates.[3] They are also an extremely rowdy group, which they interpret proudly as "bringing the ruckus" wherever they go.[12]

The captain of the crew, Bartolomeo, first set sail after seeing Luffy's participation at the Battle of Marineford.[13] He became a very promising rookie, earning his fame around one year after the war.[9]

Later, just before Block B began, the vice admiral was defeated by Bartolomeo and left inside the garbage room.[15]

When the fight for Block B started, Bartolomeo was teasing the crowd and sitting lazily watching the other contestants fight.[16] When the fight was about to be concluded, he used his ability to protect himself from king Elizabello II's punch, and then once more to defeat the king, thus winning the fight in Block B.[17]

Bartolomeo later participated in the tournament finals, helping Luffy's stand-in Sabo and his friend Rebecca. After Sabo destroyed the Colosseum, Bartolomeo fell to the underground harbor. He then accompanied Nico Robin and Rebecca to the King's Plateau and later the Royal Palace. Bartolomeo then fought Gladius on the palace plateau with the help of Cavendish in order to help Robin continue her journey, eventually defeating Gladius. He then helped the other Colosseum fighters in stopping the shrinking Birdcage until Doflamingo was defeated.

Bartolomeo recovered in the palace, where he discussed with the other gladiators about their crews becoming subordinates of the Straw Hat Pirates. The Barto Club arrived in Dressrosa around this time to help the Straw Hats escape, and Bartolomeo succeeded in making them part of the Straw Hat Grand Fleet. The Barto Club then met the Straw Hat Pirates in person as they agreed to take them to Zou.

After boarding the Going Luffy-senpai, the Barto Club took the Straw Hat Pirates and Trafalgar Law to Zou. During the journey, the Barto Club's general incompetence as a group of sailors, including their propensity for seasickness, was revealed. Their guests even expressed shock at the fact that the crew had managed to survive this far into the New World, especially without a navigator.[18] Nonetheless, the crew successfully delivered their guests to Zou, and were awestruck at the sight of the Thousand Sunny. They then departed, deciding that they did not wish to interfere in the Straw Hats' journey, but promised to uphold the Straw Hats' reputation as a member of the Grand Fleet.[19]

The Barto Club later arrived at an island and announced their plans to cause a ruckus.[20] They then fought with a gang and Bartolomeo defeated the leader at the port.[21] The Barto Club was then seen selling Straw Hat memorabilia to the citizens.[22] They later learned that the island they were on is under Shanks' protection.[23] To the citizens' horror, Bartolomeo and Gambia then burned Shanks' flag in a daring act.[24]

In the original Shonen Jump version of Chapter 705, Gambia's infobox stated that he was a staff officer of the "Bartolomeo Pirates" (バルトロメオ海賊団,Barutoromeo Kaizokudan?). In Volume 71, this was corrected to match Bartolomeo's infobox in Chapter 706, which stated that the crew's name was the Barto Club.